Typically, an automotive manufacturer has three or more different vehicle lines or platforms which are used to produce their product lines. For example, a smaller vehicle platform, a medium-sized vehicle platform, and a larger vehicle platform would typically cover the passenger car segments of the manufactures product lines. These platforms often have different wheelbases (the distance between the axles of the vehicle) and different tracks (the distance between the wheels on a particular axle). The rear track of a vehicle is one of the key factors that determine the available width of a rear seating system. The fact that an automotive manufacturer sells vehicles of different sizes often dictates that the automotive manufacturer produce rear seating systems with different widths.
Using the conventional techniques in the art, rear seating system manufacturers have supplied different and unique rear seating systems for each of these different sized vehicles. In their effort, these manufacturers have encountered the enormous cost associated with engineering, tooling, manufacturing, and validating separate seating systems. There exists a tremendous desire to reduce or eliminate many or all of these costs in a continuing effort to reduce the overall cost of producing a vehicle.